Bronx Democratic Leader Switches an Endorsement

By JONATHAN P. HICKS

Published: June 4, 2000

The Bronx Democratic Party chairman said yesterday that he was withdrawing his support from Representative Eliot L. Engel's bid for re-election this year, a move that is likely to intensify the competition in an already heated race for Congress.

The chairman, Assemblyman Roberto Ramirez, said that he would back Mr. Engel's opponent, State Senator Larry B. Seabrook. In backing an insurgent candidate who has often had an arms-length relationship with the Democratic organization, Mr. Ramirez is not only shunning a six-term incumbent member of Congress but also taking a step that he has rarely if ever taken: endorsing a challenger.

The decision comes a week after Mr. Ramirez announced that he would not seek re-election to his seat in the Assembly this year. In making that announcement, Mr. Ramirez said that he would remain as the borough's Democratic leader and devote himself more fully to the mayoral campaign of Fernando Ferrer, the Bronx borough president.

As part of that announcement, Mr. Ramirez said he would also work to usher a new cadre of Hispanic and black officials into elected office in New York City and New York State in the coming years.

''This allows us to bring in a new generation of leadership in the Bronx,'' Mr. Ramirez said of his decision to support Mr. Seabrook over Mr. Engel. ''It also allows us to have as unified a Democratic Party as we possibly could have in the Bronx.''

In supporting Mr. Seabrook and a host of other black candidates, Mr. Ramirez appears to be trying to solidify his organization's relationship with a black political community that has not always embraced his leadership. Indeed, with this move, Mr. Ramirez has persuaded Mr. Seabrook and several of Mr. Seabrook's proteges to endorse Mr. Ferrer's candidacy for mayor.

When asked why he had decided not to support Mr. Engel, Mr. Ramirez said: ''I have supported him in the past. But at the end of the day, there comes a time for every elected official to move on. I know it's difficult. He has a right to run, but I pray that he will respect my decision.''

In fact, there has been some strain between the two leaders since 1997, when Mr. Engel supported an aide to the congressman for a City Council seat, against an incumbent, Lawrence A. Warden. Mr. Warden won that Democratic primary, but immediately afterward angered Mr. Ramirez by endorsing Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, a Republican, in the general election.

Mr. Engel, 53, said that he considered the endorsement of the Democratic organization irrelevant. ''Larry Seabrook and Roberto Ramirez deserve each other,'' Mr. Engel said yesterday. ''I don't think voters like boss-driven, back-room political deals. Roberto Ramirez would like to be the dictator of Bronx County. I have always been independent and I don't kowtow to any Democratic county leader.''

Mr. Ramirez has lined up a large number of Bronx elected officials behind Mr. Seabrook's candidacy, a development that is certain to add complexity to the congressman's re-election effort. Mr. Engel represents parts of the Bronx and Westchester County, and Mr. Seabrook's State Senate district includes many of the neighborhoods in the 17th Congressional District.

Mr. Seabrook, 48, said that the support of the Democratic organization would offer ''a tremendous boost'' to his campaign. ''It's the beginning of ushering in new leadership and it will energize our campaign and energize the Democratic Party in the Bronx,'' he said. Unseating an incumbent is typically a difficult business, particularly in the Bronx. And Mr. Engel has the power of more than a decade of incumbency and more than $200,000 in campaign contributions at his disposal.

Still, Mr. Seabrook's candidacy is likely to get a boost from the support of Mr. Ramirez, one of the state's most influential political tacticians. Moreover, the Bronx Democratic chairman has placed much of his own prestige on the line by endorsing an insurgent.

Mr. Seabrook said that he had raised about $150,000 and that his campaign would benefit from the district's shifting demographics.

In the 1990 census, the 17th Congressional District was nearly 38 percent black, 29 percent Hispanic and 3 percent Asian, with the non-Hispanic white population accounting for 29 percent. By all estimates, including those of Mr. Engel, the district has become far more black and Hispanic since then. Mr. Seabrook is black; Mr. Engel is white.

Mr. Ramirez's decision follows hours of talks in which several other political decisions were reached regarding the Democratic primary in September. Assemblyman Samuel Bea has decided to run for the State Senate seat being vacated by Mr. Seabrook. And Carl E. Heastie, a Democratic state committeeman and protege of Mr. Seabrook, will run for the Assembly seat now held by Mr. Bea.

Joey Jackson, a lawyer and chairman of the Bronx Democratic County Committee, was offered the support of the Bronx Democratic organization for the position of Democratic district leader. Mr. Jackson had planned to run for the State Senate seat being vacated by Mr. Seabrook. As part of the arrangement, the Democratic organization will support Mr. Jackson for a future opening, either in the City Council or the State Senate.

The arrangement apparently ends the plans of City Councilman Warden, another close political ally of Mr. Seabrook, to run for the State Senate seat. Mr. Warden is prevented from running for re-election to his Council seat next year, because of term-limit regulations.

In endorsing Mr. Jackson, 33, and Mr. Heastie, a 32-year-old budget analyst in the office of the city comptroller, Mr. Ramirez is supporting two young black candidates who would be new to elective office.